March 2010 - Everyone in marketing and PR seems to be talking about Social Media these days. This is true not only for publicly listed companies but also for smaller businesses and across all types of industries. How the tourism and hospitality industry in particular can profit from this marketing trend, was discussed by the participants of the latest "Hospitality@Work" round in Berlin, second of a series of events initialized by protel hotelsoftware to present and discuss current topics of the hotel industry.

Representatives of several large hotel chains and individual hotels met on February 11th, 2010 in the Aspria Hotel in Berlin to learn more about the world of social media from Uwe Frers, founder and General Manager of TripsbyTips.com and recognised expert in the field of new media. Frers introduced social media in a spectacular speech and impressively demonstrated how, within only a few years, the consumer's perception of brands has shifted away from the classical print media to the blogs, tweets and social network profiles of the Web 2.0 generation.

The most recent statistics on social media and social networking sites suggest that soon Facebook, Twitter and Co. will draw more consumers than the classical print media. Having realized that through social media they can contact their customers directly, more and more companies are rushing to integrate various forms of social media into their marketing planning. The hospitality sector especially has been an early adopter of social media marketing. Many renowned names of the hotel industry already treat new paths, Accor, Aspria and TUI with their Facebook profiles are but a few. - Following the inspiring presentation of Uwe Frers a vivid discussion ensued on how social media can be successfully used and integrated into the corporate strategy: How can social media be beneficial to a business? How will the social media support the hotel's marketing objectives? Will the investment of resources into social media and marketing return the desired business results?

Hospitality@Work

The event in February was the second round of the exclusive Hospitality@Work series of events, which already promises to become a full and sustainable success. Designed by protel hotelsoftware as a "think tank" for IT topics with regard to the hotel industry, the series brings together distinguished representatives of hotel chains and individual hotels and varying experts, thus providing stakeholders and decision makers with necessary tools and methodologies. Each event will be dedicated to a current industry specific topic with ample time to discuss and exchange information in an open and relaxed atmosphere.

Further information

• For more information on the event location, please go to the official website of the Aspria Spa und Sporting Hotel in Berlin.
• Please also visit TripsbyTips , Uwe Frers? community for the honest exchange of travel experiences.
• Visit the Facebook profiles of some the participants of the last Hospitality@Work event: Aspria, Accor, Palais Coburg, aqi (TUI).
• If you would like to hear more about Hospitality@Work or if you'd like to participate at the next event, please contact the protel Sales-Team.